AZALEA

azalea, a genus of popular hardy or greenhouse plants, belonging to the heath order (ericaceae), and scarcely separable botanically from _rhododendron_. the beautiful varieties now in cultivation have been bred from a few originals, natives of the hilly regions of china and japan, asia minor, and the united states. they are perhaps unequalled as indoor decorative plants. they are usually increased by grafting the half-ripened shoots on the stronger-growing kinds, the shoots of the stock and the grafts being in a similarly half-ripened condition, and the plants being placed in a moist heat of 65deg. large plants of inferior kinds, if healthy, may be grafted all over with the choicer sorts, so as to obtain a large specimen in a short time. they require a rich and fibrous peat soil, with a mixture of sand to prevent its getting water-logged. the best time to pot azaleas is three or four weeks after the blooming is over. the soil should be made quite solid to prevent its retaining too much water. to produce handsome plants, they must while young be stopped as required. specimens that have got leggy may be cut back just before growth commences. the lowest temperature for them during the winter is about 35deg, and during their season of growth from 55deg to 65deg at night, and 75deg by day, the atmosphere being at the same time well charged with moisture. they are liable to the attacks of thrips and red spider, which do great mischief if not promptly destroyed. the following are some well-known species:--_a. arborescens_ (pennsylvania), a deciduous shrub 10-20 ft. high; _a. calendulacea_ (carolina to pennsylvania), a beautiful deciduous shrub 2-6 ft. high, with yellow, red, orange and copper-coloured flowers; _a. hispida_, a north american shrub, 10-15 ft. high, flowers white edged with red; _a. indica_ (china), the so-called indian azalea, a shrub 3-6 ft. or more high, the original of numerous single and double varieties, many of the more vigorous of which are hardy in southern england and ireland; _a. nudiflora_, a north american shrub, 3-4 ft. high, which hybridizes freely with _a. calendulacea_, _a. pontica_ and others, to produce single and [v.03 p.0079] double forms of a great variety of shades; _a. pontica_ (levant, caucasus, &c.), 4-6 ft. high, with numerous varieties differing in the colour of the flowers and the tint of the leaves; _a. sinensis_ (china and japan), a beautiful shrub, 3-4 ft. high, with orange-red or yellow bell-shaped flowers, hardy in the southern half of england, large numbers of varieties being in cultivation under the name of japanese azaleas.